Barry Bennell victim David Lean told police there were 'hundreds' of sexual assaults on young boys

Lean was 11 years old when Bennell awarded him with the Boy of the Week prize at his football course.

Football sex abuse scandal: ‘Hundreds, if not thousands’ more cases likelyITN

Former Preston North End reserve team player David Lean waived his anonymity and spoke in public for the first time about how he was abused by Bennell in 1980.

Lean said his case was rejected by the CPS and told authorities that Bennell could have abused hundreds of boys, but "no one wanted to listen."

Speaking on Sky News, Lean said: "He was running junior football teams and working in a children's home. There was always going to be more. Many, many, many, many more and I told them. I had already told the police that there were hundreds."

After nearly three decades of keeping quiet about the abuse, Lean went public in 2013 with damning evidence that eventually saw Bennell receive a prison sentence of two years in 2015.

The former football coach was sentenced to nine years in 1998 for the sexual assault of boys in the UK. The CPS told Lean that his evidence would not have made any difference even if he had come forward in 1998.

Lean appealed to the Child Sexual Abuse Review Panel against the decision by the CPS not to prosecute Bennell in 2013 and won. Police then charged the ex-football coach and he received a two-year jail sentence.

When Lean read out a victim's statement, he was put in the same room as his abuser, even though he had asked for anonymity.

"He was sat right in front of me, two yards away from me. The only people in that passageway were me and him. I never wanted to see him again in my life and now I have his face, his current appearance, there all the time," Lean said.

"This is a man that groomed me for seven months, that abused me for two nights and the implications and the after-effects have gone on throughout my life."

The sexual assaults started when Lean was only 11 years old. Bennell was running a football course in north Wales and even awarded his victim with the 'Boy of the Week' prize.

At the coach's house, Lean was abused and one month later, Bennell turned up at his house. "My mum, said why don't you take Barry up to your bedroom and show him your trophies. That was really, really hard, I was really, really proud of my collection and it was a normal thing for my mum to have said.

"As I tried to get out of the room as fast as I could he stood in the doorway ... he looked at me straight in the face and said, 'Don't worry, I won't tell your mum what you did to me'."

Bennell is in hospital after being found unconscious at a hotel. A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said: "Police officers attended an address in Knebworth Park, Stevenage just before 11pm on Friday in connection with a fear for welfare incident.

"A 62-year-old man was located and was taken to hospital to receive medical treatment, where he remains."

Five police forces are currently investigating claims of historical abuse made by former footballers.